Effect of late Rainfall Onset and Early Cessation on Farming Activities in Damaturu, Yobe state

Abstract

Late onset and early cessation are one of the most globally recognized farming hazards that damages farms products especially the drought prone of Sub-Saharan Africa. Considering that, the study envisaged the effect of late rainfall onset and cessation on farming activities in Damaturu. A systematic random sampling techniques was employed in selecting the study sample area. Krejcie morgan table was further used to determine the 384-sample size that were disseminated in the three selected. Onset and cessation pattern of Damaturu was analyzed using the Illesanmi method (1979ab). Both descriptive and inferential analysis were employed in the analyses of the data. Findings of the study indicated that rainfall onset is usually determine in the month of June to the early month of July with abnormal onset occurring the late month of July. Thus, rainfall ceased in the month ending of September to early October with abnormal cessation ending early September and cessation in Damaturu. The result of the study further explained that the pattern of rainfall in Damaturu over a decade have experienced late onset in 2012,2014 and 2018 whereas early cessation was noticed in the 2013, 2014 and 2019. Considering that, the length of growing season in Damaturu was observed as 125days. Thus, the longest length of growing season over a decade was noticed in 2020 (151 days) whereas the shortest length of growing season was experience in 2013 (105 days). The result of the study reveals that late onset and cessation affect crop production in Damaturu as it reduces crop yield, farm output, increase pest infestation such as grasshopper, beans and maize weevils and caterpillar. Despite the effect of onset and cessation in the study area, farmers are using local adaptation strategies such as early crop planation, used of improved seed varieties, fertilizers and manure. Based on that, the study recommended that establishment of more meteorological station to issue early warning, forecast and signal on late onset and cessation will aid to reduce the impact of climate variability on farming activities in Damaturu